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This paper explores some of the factors which impede and promote public sector responsibilities towards children. The purpose of this analysis is to seek methods of assessing the performance of governments in their roles as protectors of the rights of children according to their international commitments. The multiplicity of actors involved in the process is described and the related problems for cooperation and effective implementation considered.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2012 KIDS COUNT® Data Book shows both promising progress and discouraging setbacks for the U.S.'s children: While their academic achievement and health improved in most states, their economic well-being continued to decline. This year’s Data Book uses an updated index of 16 indicators of child well-being, organized into four categories: Economic Well-Being, Health, Education, and Family and Community. The new methodology reflects the tremendous advances in child development research since the first KIDS COUNT Data Book in 1990.

Are you interested in children's everyday lives and in childhood as a social and cultural phenomenon? Would you like to know about children's lives in different parts of the world? What about the changing conditions of childhood in the era of globalisation? If so, the international master's programme in Childhood Studies might be perfect for you.

Are you interested in children's everyday lives and in childhood as a social and cultural phenomenon? Would you like to know about children's lives in different parts of the world? What about the changing conditions of childhood in the era of globalisation? If so, the international master's programme in Childhood Studies might be perfect for you.

Indicators, the newsletter of ISCI, provides information on child indicators to an international audience of researchers, advocates, policymakers, and the media. This issue includes news on the latest news on the 2013 Conference - Child Indicators in a Globalized World, news from the field, workshops and projects, research reports, and other publications and the latest trends in child indicators.

Sebastián J. Lipina and Michael I. Posner argue that a child ’s reaction to stress is an important factor in success in school and our understanding of the stress reaction may also guide us in analyzing other brain systems more directly involved in schooling.

In the coastal province of Quang Binh, young people have made a video on climate change-induced challenges faced by their local communities. The film project – funded by Norway in partnership with UNICEF and Vietnam’s Youth Union – aims at giving voice to young people as agents of change in one of the countries hardest hit by impacts of climate change.

The Children and Violence Evaluation Challenge Fund is pleased to announce its 2nd call for proposals to support rigorous evaluations of interventions aimed at preventing all forms of violence against children in low- and middle-income countries.

-PEPFAR’s support for orphans and vulnerable children: some beneficial effects, but too little data, and programs spread thin - Mental health and resilience in HIV/AIDS-affected children: A review of the literature and recommendations for future research - Comparative analysis of health care expenditures and presence of mental health conditions of HIV-affected versus non-HIV-affected children - Asset ownership among household caring for orphans and vulnerable children in rural Zimbabwe: The influence of ownership on children’s health and social vulnerabilities - Examining dimensions of vulnerability among children in Uganda - Progress, challenges and new opportunities for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV under the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief

The Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies (OACAS) released the 2012 Child Welfare Report presenting recommendations to the government on child welfare priorities. These priorities have come out of in-depth discussion with the child welfare field, community partners, government officials, and families and youth working with Children’s Aid.

The recently published literature review from the CP MERG Technical Working Group (TWG) on Data Collection on Violence against Children (VAC) aims to capture current thinking on ethical issues and provide empirical support to guide recommendations for ethical research practice and decision-making in collecting data on VAC. The review examines documentation, including both published and ‘grey’ literature that is of specific relevance to research ethics in collecting data on VAC.

The aim of the publication is to provide children and youth in Asia a platform to report on progress made towards these commitments from their own point of view. It documents the perspective of children from seven Asia countries on how disasters and climate change affects their lives and their rights. The report also supports the implementation of the Children's Charter for Disaster Risk Reduction.

The links between climate change and disasters in South Asia, such as flooding in Pakistan or cyclones in Bangladesh, are increasingly evident. However, there is little recognition of the potentially life-long impact of climate change and related disasters on the wellbeing of the region’s children. In a region that accounts for more than one quarter of the world’s children, with 614 million children under 18, girls and boys must receive greater priority in measures to respond to disasters and in disaster risk reduction planning.

Overseas Development Institute published this project briefing. This and other ODI Project Briefings are available from www.odi.org.uk

A range of experts confront the most compelling issues around the social drivers of HIV, prevention, social protection and gender, explaining why addressing them is now critical for achieving a generation free from HIV and AIDS. Watch the debate and read the commentaries of those answering the question. In the studio are: Joy Phumaphi, former Minister of Health, Botswana, Geeta Rao Gupta, Deputy Executive Director, UN Children’s Fund, Attapon Ed Ngoksin, International Treatment Preparedness Coalition, and John Santelli, Professor, Columbia University.

Representatives of MERCOSUR, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and of the Government of the Dominican Republic, alongside the Latin America and the Caribbean Movement for Children (MMI LAC) gathered in New York in an event organized with the SRSG on Violence against Children on protection of children from violence. The event was sponsored by the Governments of Brazil, Uruguay, Bahamas and the Dominican Republic and also counted on the participation of three young representatives of the Children's led organizations involved on the process of follow up to the UN Study in the Latin America region

David Howe’s new book examines what empathy is, why we have it and how it develops. He explores the important part empathy plays in child development and therapeutic work as well as its significance for how society organises itself.

This cross-disciplinary text is suitable for students, trainees and practitioners in the fields of Counselling and Psychotherapy, as well as students of Social Work, Psychology, Childhood Studies, Nursing, Youth Work and Teaching.